The poll was taken late last week amongst a representative sample of 1,000 voters at 100 sampling points across all 43 constituencies when 21 per cent of those polled said they were still undecided as to who they will vote for on Thursday.

After the 21 per cent unknowns were removed, Gallagher enjoyed 40 per cent support, up a whopping 20 points from the last Irish Times poll.

Veteran Galwegian academic Higgins was up just two percentage points to 25 per cent, a full 15 per cent behind frontrunner Gallagher.

Support for McGuinness fell four per cent to 15 per cent in the wake of various controversies over his links with the IRA.

Independent candidate Norris was down three points to eight per cent with Fine Gael’s Mitchell also down three to just six per cent support.

Mary Davis dropped nine points to three per cent. Dana, down three points, also now stands at just three per cent support.

Reacting to the latest poll results, Irish deputy Prime Minister and Labor Party leader Eamon Gilmore claimed Higgins can close the gap on Gallagher.

“If people switch their vote the gap can be bridged between now and Thursday,” said Gilmore. “Michael D. Higgins has the political experience to do the constitutional role - remember that the last two presidents were constitutional lawyers.

“Nobody in this election has the track record of Michael D Higgins in relation to inclusion and working for people who have been at a disadvantage. He is a president we can be proud of.”

Live coverage of the Irish presidential election on IrishCentral - Friday, October 28th